Infection of Reach
by Darksource
Summary: Focuses on Noble Team. The Covenant have taken over a Forerunner facility on Reach, they use it as a Base of Operations. What they don't know, is that it contains an unknown entity, that spreads throughout the planet. Can the UNSC stop this threat?
1. Prologue Part 1

Two UH-144 Falcon aircrafts fly through the windy skies, dark storm clouds covered the skies. They landed at the Forerunner facility. Noble Team, Carter, Jorge, and Noble Six, deploys. "Let's move, Noble." Carter ordered. Noble Six cocked his MA37 Assault Rifle, and joined the other two.

"Latest Intel reports that Grunts and Elites'll be the only resistance. Vehicles; Banshees, and afew Spirits. This should be a piece of cake, we go in, get Dot, and get out." He said again. The Forerunner entry door opened, and the team entered.

An airlock sequence ensues for thirty seconds, after those thirty seconds, the door opens. This room was silver colored, with pillars sporting Forerunner glyphs on them. "What the hell kinda place is this?" Jorge asked. "Don't know, that's why the Covenant are using it." Carter said, they approached another door, and it opened into a room, an Elite Officer was patrolling, and several Grunt Minors were sleeping.

The Elite was wielding a new weapon, the Plasma Repeater. It looked like a bigger Plasma Rifle. Noble Six ran over and took the Elite from behind, using his Combat Knife to assassinate it. He picked up it's Plasma Repeater, and slabbed it over his back. The Grunts then woke up, and more Elites came into the room "Enemy!" Carter shouted out. They opened fire, and a gunfight resulted. The Plasma Repeater acted liked a Plasma Chaingun.

Noble Team is victorius, and moves up this ramp to a lift. They reach a larger room, with Covenant equipment set up. Elites with Needle Rifles patrolled. "Damn, they're packin' some firepower down there…watch yourselves." Carter advised. Noble Six decided to use the Plasma Repeater.

As the lift reached it's destination, Noble Six fired his Plasma Repeater at the Elites, Jorge firing his M247H Machine Gun, and Carter firing his MA37 Assault Rifle. They take out the group, and move through the facility. The Spartans entered a hangar. "Noble Six, clear this room and open the door, so the rest of the team can deploy." Carter ordered. The hanger was occupied by sleeping Grunt Minors and Majors, and two Elite Ultras with Plasma Repeaters.

The team went in, firing on everything. Noble Six opens the hangar's door. "Coming in." the Pilot said. A Falcon flies in, with troopers on the Machine Guns. Kat, Jun, and Emile are deployed. "What did we miss?" Jun asked. "Just getting' started." Carter replied. Grunt Heavies came out the doors on the catwalks armed with Plasma Launchers, and they fire at the Falcon, it backs out the hangar, narrowly dodging them.

Noble Six switches to the MA37, but it was out of ammo, but another new weapon, the Focus Rifle, was lying next to him. He quickly picked it up and fired at the Grunts. The Purplish-Orange beam tore them up. He picked up one of the Plasma Launchers, replacing the Plasma Repeater, which burned out. "More Covenant below, Noble. Let's move." Carter ordered. The team moved through, killing Grunts and Elites along the way.

Noble Team crushed any resistance in their way, and came a large room with large windows. A Zealot is seen standing behind a Banshee. "Deal with the Demons, brothers. I will keep the Oracle with me." It pilots the Banshee and takes off. "That Zealot looks like their Commander." Jorge said. They go out onto the landing pad, the Falcons come and pick the team. They fly into the skies. Banshees intercepted them, Noble Six retaliated by firing the Falcon's Machine Gun, Jorge did the same.

"There are Covenant Emplacements all over this place, let's get them out of our way before we continue." Carter ordered. They flew to a Platform with Shades mounted by Special Operations Grunts, Covenant Methane Tanks, and Plasma Batteries. Noble Six decided to switch to the Plasma Launcher, charging it, and firing four plasma projectiles at the platform. Lots of blue explosions erupt, turning into a cloud of blue smoke. For the surviving Grunts, he picked them off with the Focus Rifle.

The Falcon flew to the next platform, which had the same equipment the previous had, but this one was guarded instead by Elites with Fuel Rod Guns. "Take those Elites out before they start unloading." Carter warned. Noble Six fired the Machine Gun at the Elites, they retaliated. One of the Rods hit the Falcon, shaking it, making Noble Six' Focus Rifle fall into the fog, but it still managed to hold. They take this emplacement out and head to another one, this one had a small building in this part of the facility.

"Scanners indicate that Auntie Dot is in this part of the place. Let's clear that landing zone, and get in there." Carter ordered. Grunt Heavies with Fuel Rod Guns and Special Operations Grunts manning Shades. Noble Six once again used the Plasma Launcher. After clearing the landing zone, the Falcon's land to drop the team off, then take back off. Six was empty of his weaponry. "Here!" Emile said, tossing him an M45 Tactical Shotgun. They proceeded through this door.


	2. Prologue Part 2

The door opens. Kat and Jorge scan the room, signaling Jun and Emile to move in. Carter moved in, followed by Six, as the door closes. The team advanced through a corridor with pillars in the middle. Greenish-Brown splotches of blood were on the walls.

Noble moved into a darker foggy corridor with rooms separated by glass windows. The sound of Needle Rifles firing is heard, and the shadows of Elites are seen fighting blob-like creatures below them, soon overpowering the Elites. Noble watched. The fighting stopped as the victorious creatures move through doorways.

Noble Team enters a Laboratory, with more splotches of greenish-brown blood on the walls, and hideously deformed Elite bodies on the floor. "What happened here?" Kat asked. "My motion sensor's picking up something, red blips, and lots of them." Jun said. Glass breaks, and little squid creatures came racing towards the team. "Sir!" Emile shouted. "Unknown hostiles inbound!" Carter briefed.

Though outnumbered, the creatures were mainly fried by the Spartans' shields, but too many took their shields out. They took this time to fire on the creatures, which just bursted as soon as their projectiles made contact. Afew of them dig themselves into the deformed bodies on the floor, making them come alive into zombie-like victims, that sported a whip-esque attack.

Six fired the Shotgun on them as they got upclose, gibbing them. The door ahead opened. "Go on, Noble. I'll catch up later." Carter ordered, holding position. They moved through a corridor, into an elevator shaft. More of the zombie-like creatures were pouring out of vents on the wall. This time, they were armed with weapons. Various Covenant and Human weaponry. Noble Team had no idea what they were up against.

_**It seems the Covenant have released an unknown entity, known as the Flood. They were at war with the Forerunners, the creators of this facility. Afterwards, they were stored in Containment Facilities. This facility was one of said types, but the absence of Forerunner Sentinels made it extremely dangerous. **_

"Great. Now we've got something _else_ to deal with than the Covenant." Emile mumbled. "Goddamn Covenant. What the hell did they do?" Jun questioned. Another wave of Flood Combat and Infection Forms attacked, and were easily fought off. Noble Six' Shotgun ran out, so he pulled out his M6G Magnum, and fired on the creatures, also throwing his couple Frag and Plasma Grenades at them. The elevator came to a stop, and tilted.

The team drops down onto the ledge below, where a door is. This lead to a corridor, littered with dead Spec Ops Grunts, as well as a few Flood Combat Forms. "We've definately gotta warn Holland about this." Jun commented. They entered another door, leading to a walkway with glass windows. Down below, Minor Elites, and afew Ultra Elites, were fighting off another new enemy: Flood Carrier Forms, which were aged Combat Forms, that carried Infection Forms inside.

Noble Team joined the battle, with Noble Six using his Magnum and firing it at the Carrier Forms. They were basically 'damage-sponges', and absorbed every bit of damage he gave them, but they took too much, and exploded, releasing Infection Forms. "Those exploding ones release the little ones, so watch out." Kat advised. Six also fired it on the Elites, and went over to ultilise one of their Needle Rifles. More Flood Carrier Forms, assisted by Combat Forms, assaulted the room.

Noble Team fought off the oncoming Flood, and found a Plasma Cannon, which Six mounted and used on them. "Plasma; that should do the trick." Jun commented. The door leading to another airlock opens. "Jumpers! Above!" Emile warned, as Ranger Elites appeared with Needle Rifle, and started firing on both the Spartans and the Flood. The team wiped them all out, then secured the area.

Two Minors Elites, one Officer Elite, and four Ultra Grunts came out. The Officer was wielding a Focus Rifle, while the other two Elites wielded Plasma Repeaters, and the Grunts wielded Needlers. Noble Team took them out and entered. The airlock sequence activated, then the following door opened to an outside bridge passage. Flood Forms were assaulting and eventually overpowered a group of Minor and Major Grunts. It was raining, and wind blew past. "Commander, the storm is here." Jorge said.

"Bring the Falcons closer to the base, we aren't leaving until we get Auntie Dot." Carter ordered, as two Falcons flew overhead, with the gunners firing the mounted M247H's on the Flood. They picked up Jun, Emile, Jorge, and Kat. "Noble Six, these things have spread throughout this place. We don't have that much time until the Longswords arrive. It's all up to you: find Dot, and get her out!" Carter said again.

Noble Team battled up the ramps to a door at the back. It lead to the base' "brain". The Zealot Elite was running towards a door. Noble Six gave chase, jumping down an elevator. He was in the facility's "esophagus". The Zealot was nowhere in sight. Instead, Covenant battled Flood in this area of the facility.

Six rushed through the battle, and made it to a landing pad. The Zealot Elite entered one of the Banshees, and took off. Six quickly fired the Plasma Launcher at the Banshee, it missed. But the Banshee came back and fired at him, he took cover, then ran out to get in one of the other Banshees to follow him.

Rain impacted the Banshee's hood, as Noble Six flew towards the first landing pad. Lightning flashed, and winds blew past. Six flew towards the first landing pad, as he was about to touch it down, a bolt of lightning hit the Banshee, causing him to eject. He climbed up onto the ledge, and carefully moved into the open door.

Back into the base room, Covenant and Flood battled. They fought as Six ignored them, sprinting up the ramps. He got to the conveyor system, with canisters of explosive plasma. An Elite threw a Plasma Grenade, it landed near one of them. Noble Six armor locked, as the icy-blue shielding protected him from the explosion.

He unlocked, and moved on through the fighting. He finally reached the hangar, where a Phantom was docked, and the Zealot was preparing to board it. "Stop right there." Noble Six said, aiming the Needle Rifle at him, and he turns around. "Demon! You are not taking this Oracle!" It said, pulling out it's Energy Sword.

Six fired the last of his Needle Rifle, and threw it away. He tossed Grenades, but the Zealot dodged. His Magnum was also out, so he took cover behind a pillar. "What's the matter, Demon? Scared?" The Zealot taunted. Noble Six was seen mindlessly running out, and the Zealot slashed at him. Suddenly, his body disappeared, it was a Hologram. "What?" The Zealot questioned.

While it was distracted, the real Noble Six came out and twisted the Zealot's arm, making it do a crunch, with the Zealot grunting in pain in the process. He grabbed the Energy Sword, and drove it through his stomach, killing it. "Noble Six! Me, inside your head, now!" Auntie Dot, on a pedestal, alerted. Six came and downloaded her directly into his helmet.

A Falcon comes to the outside platform. "Lieutenant, get aboard, the Longswords are here." One of the troopers yelled. Six sprinted to the Falcon, as the howl of Longsword engines were heard. He boarded it, and it flew away, just as the Longswords arrived and bombed the facility, destroying it.

Noble Team rested, as they departed.

* * *

Back at the HQ, Noble Team, minus Noble Six, looked at the viewscreen with Colonel Holland's facetag. They bickered with eachother, as Noble Six soon entered and caught up with them. "Calm down, Noble." Holland ordered. "Sir...w-what the hell were they?" Kat asked, scared.

"After you got back, Dot stated that she analyzed that facility. From her data, she states that it wasn't of Covenant or human origin, but Forerunner origin." Everyone made a surprised face. "That's right. The Forerunners are an ancient race of builders, extinct over 100,000 years ago. They built installations, artifacts, and secrets all over the galaxy, including Reach. The Cov-" Holland was cut off by Emile.

"But what were those creatures?" he asked, as Jorge sucked his teeth at him. "I'll get to that Noble Four. Now, the Covenant are on a hunt for this technology, which may be the reason they're invading Reach. They will do whatever they can to get to that tech, and will destroy anything that would stand in their way.

"Now as for the creatures, our forces on Harvest have heard ghost stories about the Spirit of Fire's crew, after we lost them in '31, and Covenant conversations about a race called...the Flood. A virulent, parasitic species with the goal of consumption. They were at war with the Forerunners, and were the reason for their extinction. The Forerunners created super weapons to exterminate the Flood, and stored them in containment facilities, which is what that facility was there."

"So they stored them on Reach, and the Covenant released them? That's not good. How long until they come here?" Carter asked. "Sword Base has reported infections in the outer areas in the last few hours. This is more than a Winter Contingency. This is more than the Covenant. If the Flood hit the central areas, we could lose the whole planet, even before the Covenant get their job done. Do whatever it takes to drive this new enemy off our planet. We're counting on you."

The screen turned off, and darkened the room.


End file.
